Cardinal Infrastructure (NASDAQ: CDNL) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Tuesday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

Cardinal Infrastructure（納斯達克股票代碼：CDNL）於週二舉行了 2026 年第一季度財報電話會議。以下是會議的完整記錄。

This content is powered by Benzinga APIs. For comprehensive financial data and transcripts, visit https://www.benzinga.com/apis/.

此內容由 Benzinga API 提供。有關全面的財務數據和記錄，請訪問 https://www.benzinga.com/apis/。

The full earnings call is available at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pw2tq2sf/

完整的財報電話會議可在 https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/pw2tq2sf/ 獲取。

Summary

摘要

Cardinal Infrastructure reported a 105% year-over-year revenue growth for Q1 2026, with organic growth at 64% and a record backlog of $854 million.

Cardinal Infrastructure 報告稱 2026 年第一季度的收入同比增長 105%，有機增長為 64%，創下 8.54 億美元的歷史最高積壓訂單。

The company raised its 2026 revenue guidance midpoint from $672 million to $680 million, while maintaining an adjusted EBITDA margin expectation above 20%.

該公司將 2026 年收入指引的中值從 6.72 億美元上調至 6.8 億美元，同時維持調整後 EBITDA 利潤率預期在 20% 以上。

Operational highlights include successful integration of ALGC, expansion into new markets, and notable project completions ahead of schedule, contributing to strong customer satisfaction and recurring business.

運營亮點包括成功整合 ALGC、擴展至新市場，以及提前完成的顯著項目，促進了客户滿意度和重複業務的增長。

Management emphasized the benefits of vertical integration and self-performing services, which have led to increased efficiency and schedule compression.

管理層強調了垂直整合和自我執行服務的好處，這些因素提高了效率並縮短了進度。

Cardinal Infrastructure's acquisition strategy remains focused on both tuck-in and platform deals, with a robust M&A pipeline across the Southeast, supporting its growth trajectory.

Cardinal Infrastructure 的收購策略仍然專注於小型併購和平台交易，在東南部擁有強大的併購管道，支持其增長軌跡。

Full Transcript

完整記錄

OPERATOR

操作員

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Cardinal Infrastructure Group First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call and webcast. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask questions during the session you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear a message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question. Simply press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to Emily Lear, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

早上好，女士們、先生們，歡迎參加 Cardinal Infrastructure Group 2026 年第一季度財報電話會議和網絡直播。目前所有參與者處於僅聽模式。演講者發言後將進行問答環節。在問答環節中，您需要按電話上的星號 11 鍵提問。您將聽到一條消息，告知您已舉手。要撤回您的問題，只需再次按星號 11 鍵。請注意，今天的會議正在錄音。現在我將把電話交給投資者關係總監 Emily Lear，請開始。

Emily Lear (Director of Investor Relations)

Emily Lear（投資者關係總監）

Good morning everyone and welcome to Cardinal Infrastructure Group's first quarter 2026 earnings conference call and webcast. I'm pleased to be here today to discuss our results with Jeremy Spivey, Cardinal's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Benji Wood, Chief Operating Officer and Mike Rao, Chief Financial Officer. Please note there are accompanying slides available on the Events and Presentations section of our website. Today's call will present certain non-GAAP financial measures. For more information about these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP measure, please see our earnings release. Today's call will also include forward looking statements as defined by the United States Securities Laws. These statements relate to future events, operating results or financial performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Cardinal Infrastructure Group undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements except as legally required, whether due to new information, future developments or otherwise. Information regarding these factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward looking statements is available in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jeremy.

早上好，大家好，歡迎參加 Cardinal Infrastructure Group 的 2026 年第一季度財報電話會議和網絡直播。我很高興今天能與 Cardinal 的董事長兼首席執行官 Jeremy Spivey、首席運營官 Benji Wood 和首席財務官 Mike Rao 一起討論我們的業績。請注意，我們網站的活動和演示部分有相關幻燈片。今天的電話會議將呈現某些非公認會計原則（non-GAAP）財務指標。有關這些非公認會計原則財務指標及其與最可比的公認會計原則（GAAP）指標的調節信息，請參見我們的財報。今天的電話會議還將包括根據美國證券法定義的前瞻性聲明。這些聲明涉及未來事件、運營結果或財務表現，並受到可能導致實際結果與預期結果顯著不同的風險和不確定性的影響。Cardinal Infrastructure Group 沒有義務公開更新或修訂任何前瞻性聲明，除非法律要求，無論是由於新信息、未來發展還是其他原因。有關可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性聲明顯著不同的因素的信息可在公司的證券交易委員會文件中找到。説完這些，我將把電話交給 Jeremy。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事長兼首席執行官）

Thank you Emily. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. Before I dive into the quarter, I would like to welcome and introduce a new team member to the call. Benji Wood, our Chief Operating Officer is joining us out of our Atlanta, Georgia operations. For those new to the Cardinal story, Benji led Al Grading as a Vice President and Operator and joined Cardinal as COO of the combined company when we closed the ALG acquisition in February. I'll talk about how we further vertical integration in our core markets and then hand it off to Benji to cover our M&A strategy. Mike will finish things up with a recap of financials and an update on our outlook for 2026. We reported very strong financial and operating results for the first quarter. Revenue grew approximately 105% year over year with organic growth of approximately 64% and backlog ended the quarter at $854 million, an all time high. These are exceptional numbers and they are the result of years of building this platform and a team that executes relentlessly at every level. I want to start by thanking everyone at Cardinal for what you delivered this quarter. Growth in the quarter was broad based with continued strength in residential paired with expanding contributions from commercial, manufacturing and industrial work across all our markets. The bidding environment across our footprint remains active with strong project flow giving us increased visibility into the second half of the year and into 2027. Beyond the headline growth, our operations are performing at a high level across the entire platform. Our crews did incredible work in Q1, executing safely through a higher than average number of winter weather events across the Southeast. We completed multiple projects in the quarter ahead of schedule and ahead of bid margin including a commercial site where we completed on site utilities approximately two months early, an industrial project where in house rock blasting drove an early pad delivery and a second consecutive on time delivery for a national grocery customer. We also delivered a complex residential project on schedule for a large regional developer that is new to Cardinal. As we continue to attract new residential developers and grow our share in core markets. These outcomes are generated by self performing the full scope and from running a workforce trained to execute across multiple trades. ALG and the talent that came with the acquisition are already making strong contributions. The integration is on track, the business is operating at a high level and the acquisition thesis is playing out in real time as we expected. Benji will walk you through ALG and our broader acquisition framework in a few minutes, but I will say up front that this is the strongest possible validation we could have asked for of the playbook we built in the Carolinas and are now applying in Georgia. We quickly deployed adjacent crews in drilling and blasting and paving, immediately reducing our reliance on subcontractor services. Backlog in Atlanta is growing nicely as is our customer base. Cardinal's performance oriented Safety first culture and operational playbook have been well absorbed and we are excited to this business as it continues to grow. As I mentioned, backlog entered the quarter at an all time high of $854 million. This is up 60% year over year and up 30% organically with ALG contributing just over $160 million to the total. Even more encouraging than the year over year growth is the pace at which our backlog is diversifying. Throughout the quarter, both new and recurring customers consistently told us that our ability to to deliver self performed turnkey site development is exactly what they have been looking for. We added strong volumes of work across single family, home, multifamily and retail developments as well as campus build outs for a global overnight delivery and logistics customer and a large format regional convenience and fueling site operator. Shortly after the quarter we announced further expansion into the mission critical end market with our first data center one, a $24 million contract under which we will self perform all services with completion expected in 2027. These are sophisticated customers who clearly see the value and differentiation that Cardinal brings to the market. Our strong start to the year, the visibility provided by our record backlog and our confidence in executing our growth strategy have given us the conviction to raise our full year 2026 revenue guidance we are increasing our guidance from a midpoint of $672 million to a midpoint of $680 million and continue to expect adjusted EBITDA margins above 20% for the full year with a clear path to further expansion over the medium term. Underpinning these Results and our 2026 outlook is the strength of our platform. Vertical integration is the foundation of how we operate and the workforce required to deliver. It is what makes the model so difficult to replicate. Vertical integration means we self perform and deliver the full civil scope on every project, clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, grading, wet utility installation and paving, all with our own crews and our own equipment. When we self perform every trade with our own workforce, there are no handoffs or delays waiting on subcontractor availability. Each service flows directly into the next without a gap, waiting for a sub to mobilize. That ability yields six to eight weeks of scheduled compression, which is why customers return to us project after project with over 80% of our customers recurring in Nature, Raleigh, which grew over 40% organically again this quarter is the clearest example of the model running at full scale in the Carolinas. In our newer markets, Charlotte and Greensboro, we are in the early innings of building out the labor force, the density and the equipment needed to execute on these turnkey projects. Both of these markets are dilutive to consolidated margins currently, but have significant Runway ahead. As we progress through the busy spring and summer, leverage across our portfolio improves, allowing our margins to scale in year longer term. As these markets mature and we are able to deploy our full playbook and vertical integration capabilities, we expect margins in these markets to expand meaningfully. Delivering turnkey site infrastructure at this level requires a workforce that can execute every trade at high quality, on schedule and across multiple geographies at once. Across our industry, the availability of skilled labor is the primary constraint on growth. We have built A workforce ahead of demand and our culture, commitment to safety and competitive wages enable us to recruit at a pace most of our peers cannot match, proven by what we believe is one of the largest owned wet utility labor forces in the country. Our workforce is the direct product of how we run the business. We equip our crews with the right tools and resources, deliver training that prepares them for any project, empower field teams to make decisions and we lead with safety so people look forward to coming to work. That culture produces crews that execute complex projects quickly and to the high standards our customers expect. And it is exactly why we are winning new work in adjacent end markets, including the data center contract we announced in mid April. This same dynamic explains how we have broadened our end market mix so quickly. Pre IPO, Cardinal was approximately 75% residential focused. In just a few short months we reduced that to 65% as customers continue to ask Cardinal to take on more of the complex multi trade work that our platform is built to deliver. Alongside our organic investments, we look to strategic M&A to help us build density across core markets and to continue deploying the Cardinal Playbook across the Southeast. With that I'll turn it over to Benji.

謝謝你，Emily。大家早上好，感謝你們今天的參與。在我深入討論本季度之前，我想歡迎並介紹一位新團隊成員。我們的首席運營官 Benji Wood 將從喬治亞州亞特蘭大的運營團隊加入我們。對於那些不太瞭解 Cardinal 故事的人來説，Benji 曾擔任 Al Grading 的副總裁和運營主管，並在我們於二月份完成 ALG 收購時加入 Cardinal，成為合併公司的首席運營官。我將討論我們如何在核心市場進一步實現垂直整合，然後將時間交給 Benji，讓他介紹我們的併購戰略。Mike 將總結財務情況，並更新我們對 2026 年的展望。我們報告了第一季度非常強勁的財務和運營結果。收入同比增長約 105%，有機增長約為 64%，而未完成訂單在季度末達到了 8.54 億美元，創歷史新高。這些都是卓越的數字，是我們多年構建這個平台和團隊在各個層面上不懈執行的結果。我想首先感謝 Cardinal 的每一位員工，感謝你們在本季度的貢獻。本季度的增長是廣泛的，住宅市場持續強勁，同時商業、製造和工業領域的貢獻也在不斷擴大。我們在整個業務範圍內的投標環境仍然活躍，強勁的項目流使我們對下半年和 2027 年有了更清晰的預期。除了顯著的增長外，我們的運營在整個平台上表現出色。我們的團隊在第一季度做了出色的工作，安全地應對了東南部地區高於平均水平的冬季天氣事件。我們在季度內提前完成了多個項目，並超出了投標利潤，包括一個商業項目，我們提前大約兩個月完成了現場公用設施，一個工業項目通過內部爆破實現了提前交付，以及為一家全國性雜貨客户提供的第二次按時交付。我們還按時交付了一個複雜的住宅項目，客户是一家新的大型區域開發商。隨着我們繼續吸引新的住宅開發商並在核心市場中擴大我們的份額，這些成果是通過自我執行全面範圍的工作和運行經過多種工種培訓的勞動力實現的。ALG 及其隨收購而來的人才已經開始做出強有力的貢獻。整合進展順利，業務運營水平高，收購理論正如我們預期的那樣在實時發揮作用。Benji 將在幾分鐘內向您介紹 ALG 及我們更廣泛的收購框架，但我想提前説，這對我們在卡羅萊納州建立的操作手冊的強有力驗證是我們所能要求的最強驗證，我們現在正在喬治亞州應用。我們迅速部署了相鄰的鑽探、爆破和鋪路團隊，立即減少了對分包服務的依賴。亞特蘭大的未完成訂單正在良好增長，客户基礎也在擴大。Cardinal 以績效為導向的安全第一文化和運營手冊得到了很好的吸收，我們對這個業務的未來發展感到興奮。正如我提到的，未完成訂單在季度開始時達到了歷史新高的 8.54 億美元。這比去年增長了 60%，有機增長了 30%，其中 ALG 貢獻了超過 1.6 億美元。比起同比增長，更令人鼓舞的是我們未完成訂單多樣化的速度。在整個季度，新客户和回頭客一致告訴我們，我們能夠提供自我執行的交鑰匙現場開發正是他們一直在尋找的。我們在單户住宅、多户住宅和零售開發方面增加了大量工作量，以及為一家全球快遞和物流客户和一家大型區域便利店和加油站運營商的校園建設項目。季度結束後不久，我們宣佈進一步擴展到關鍵任務終端市場，簽署了我們的第一個數據中心合同，合同金額為 2400 萬美元，我們將自我執行所有服務，預計在 2027 年完成。這些都是複雜的客户，他們清楚地看到了 Cardinal 為市場帶來的價值和差異化。我們開局強勁，創紀錄的未完成訂單提供了可見性，我們對執行增長戰略的信心使我們有信心提高 2026 年全年的收入指引，我們將指引從 6.72 億美元的中點提高到 6.8 億美元，並繼續預計全年的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將超過 20%，並在中期有進一步擴展的明確路徑。這些結果和我們 2026 年展望的基礎是我們平台的強大。垂直整合是我們運營的基礎，以及交付所需的勞動力。這使得我們的模型難以複製。垂直整合意味着我們在每個項目上自我執行並交付全面的土木工程範圍，包括清理、侵蝕控制、鑽探和爆破、平整、濕公用設施安裝和鋪路，所有這些都是由我們自己的團隊和設備完成的。當我們用自己的勞動力自我執行每個工種時，就沒有分包商可用時的交接或延誤。每項服務直接流入下一項，沒有等待分包商動員的間隙。這種能力使得計劃壓縮六到八週，這就是為什麼客户在一個項目又一個項目中回到我們這裏，超過 80% 的客户是回頭客。Raleigh 在本季度再次有超過 40% 的有機增長，是卡羅萊納州模型全面運行的最清晰例證。在我們較新的市場 Charlotte 和 Greensboro，我們正處於建立勞動力、密度和執行這些交鑰匙項目所需設備的早期階段。這兩個市場目前對合並利潤有稀釋作用，但前景廣闊。隨着我們在繁忙的春季和夏季的推進，整個投資組合的槓桿作用改善，使我們的利潤在年長的長期內得以擴展。隨着這些市場的成熟，我們能夠部署我們的完整操作手冊和垂直整合能力，我們預計這些市場的利潤將顯著擴大。在這個水平上交付交鑰匙現場基礎設施需要一支能夠在高質量、按時和跨多個地理區域同時執行每個工種的勞動力。在我們的行業中，熟練勞動力的可用性是增長的主要限制。我們已經建立了一支超前於需求的勞動力，而我們的文化、安全承諾和競爭性薪資使我們能夠以大多數同行無法匹敵的速度進行招聘，這一點通過我們認為是全國最大的自有濕公用設施勞動力之一得到了證明。我們的勞動力是我們如何運營業務的直接產物。我們為我們的團隊配備了合適的工具和資源，提供培訓以使他們為任何項目做好準備，授權現場團隊做出決策，並以安全為首要任務，讓人們期待上班。這種文化培養了能夠快速執行復雜項目並達到客户期望的高標準的團隊。這正是我們在相鄰終端市場贏得新工作的原因，包括我們在四月中旬宣佈的數據中心合同。這種動態也解釋了我們如何如此迅速地擴大我們的終端市場組合。在 IPO 之前，Cardinal 大約 75% 專注於住宅市場。在短短几個月內，我們將這一比例降低到 65%，因為客户繼續要求 Cardinal 承擔更多複雜的多工種工作，而我們的平台正是為此而構建的。除了我們的有機投資外，我們還尋求戰略性併購，以幫助我們在核心市場建立密度，並繼續在東南部部署 Cardinal 操作手冊。接下來我將把時間交給 Benji。

Benji Wood (Chief Operating Officer)

本傑·伍德（首席運營官）

Thank you Jeremy and good morning everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to introduce myself and walk you through how Cardinal thinks about growth through acquisitions. The perspective I bring this morning is grounding in having been on both sides of the table. I helped run AL Grading as Vice President prior to Cardinal's acquisition and now sit as Cardinal's Chief Operating Officer. I went through Cardinal's diligence and acquisition process firsthand. Am now part of the team responsible for operating platforms that continues to grow through M and A. What attracted me to Cardinal was simple. The culture is built around the same values that built ALG. The team is the most disciplined acquirer I've seen in this space and the platform Jeremy has built is one I wanted to be a part of and help grow across the Southeast. The reason is the platform itself. Across North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, Cardinal operates with over 2,500 employees and 160 wet utility related crews. An all time high backlog, all in one of the fastest growing construction regions in the United States. The scale and density we have built across this footprint is something a new acquirer would take a decade to replicate. We have two distinct acquisition tracks that solve different problems, tuck-ins, make us deeper and more vertically integrated and in markets where we already operate we add crews, we fill service line gaps and we pull subcontract work back in house in Atlanta. That can mean growing our wet utilities labor base and reducing our reliance on third party offerings like installation of retaining walls, concrete work and paving install over the near term. Platform deals such as ALGC serve as a geographic expansion engine. When Cardinal acquired us, they kept our leadership team in place, began integrating us onto their systems and standards, gave us the operational tools to help facilitate increased pace of growth going forward. That is the model. We see the same setup opportunities available in adjacent southeast states. The pipeline today is the most active it has ever been. We have strong tuck in opportunities around Charlotte, Greensboro and Atlanta and platform style opportunities under evaluation in adjacent southeast geographies. We will remain patient and disciplined on price and we will only pursue deals that meet our criteria. Our track record speaks for itself. Cardinal has completed seven acquisitions since 2021 bringing in approximately $310 million in acquired pro forma annual revenue across multiple geographies and end markets. Our target deal economics are outlined on slide 7, but at a high level. Tuck ins are acquired at around 4 times EBITDA and platform acquisitions around 6 times EBITDA. Platform acquisitions will be accretive to or in line with our consolidated margin profile and as strong as the margins were at ALG. We are seeing opportunities in the pipeline with even better margin profiles at multiples consistent with our framework. Cardinal has a defined operating model, growth playbook and acquisition framework. Each has been proven across multiple acquisitions and multiple geographies. What you should expect from here is consistency. The same discipline applies to a larger and more diversified platform. I'll now hand the call over to Mike for a review of the financials and our updated guidance.

謝謝你，傑里米，大家早上好。我很感激有機會自我介紹，並向大家講解卡迪納爾如何通過收購來實現增長。我今天帶來的視角是基於我在桌子兩邊的經歷。我曾在卡迪納爾收購之前擔任 AL Grading 的副總裁，現在是卡迪納爾的首席運營官。我親身經歷了卡迪納爾的盡職調查和收購過程。現在我成為了負責運營平台的團隊的一部分，該團隊通過併購持續增長。吸引我加入卡迪納爾的原因很簡單。公司的文化建立在與 ALG 相同的價值觀之上。團隊是我在這個領域見過的最有紀律的收購者，而傑里米所建立的平台是我想參與並幫助在東南部地區發展的平台。原因在於平台本身。在北卡羅來納州、南卡羅來納州和喬治亞州，卡迪納爾擁有超過 2500 名員工和 160 個濕公用事業相關的團隊。創紀錄的積壓訂單，位於美國增長最快的建築區域之一。我們在這一地區建立的規模和密度是一個新的收購者需要十年才能複製的。我們有兩條不同的收購路徑，解決不同的問題，收購附加業務，使我們更深入和更具垂直整合性，在我們已經運營的市場中，我們增加團隊，填補服務線空缺，並在亞特蘭大將分包工作拉回內部。這意味着在短期內擴大我們的濕公用事業勞動力基礎，減少對第三方服務的依賴，例如擋土牆的安裝、混凝土工作和鋪路安裝。像 ALGC 這樣的平台交易充當地理擴展引擎。當卡迪納爾收購我們時，他們保留了我們的領導團隊，開始將我們整合到他們的系統和標準中，給予我們運營工具，以幫助促進未來增長的加速。這就是我們的模式。我們在東南部相鄰州看到相同的設置機會。今天的項目管道是有史以來最活躍的。我們在夏洛特、格林斯伯勒和亞特蘭大周圍有強大的附加機會，並在相鄰的東南地理區域評估平台風格的機會。我們將保持耐心和價格上的紀律，只追求符合我們標準的交易。我們的業績記錄不言自明。自 2021 年以來，卡迪納爾完成了七項收購，帶來了約 3.1 億美元的收購前年度收入，涵蓋多個地理區域和最終市場。我們的目標交易經濟學在第 7 頁中概述，但從高層來看，附加業務的收購大約在 4 倍 EBITDA，而平台收購大約在 6 倍 EBITDA。平台收購將對我們的合併利潤率產生增益或與之持平，且與 ALG 的利潤率一樣強。我們在管道中看到的機會的利潤率更好，倍數與我們的框架一致。卡迪納爾有一個明確的運營模型、增長手冊和收購框架。每個框架在多個收購和多個地理區域中都得到了驗證。你們應該期待從這裏開始的一致性。同樣的紀律適用於更大和更多樣化的平台。現在我將把電話交給邁克，讓他來回顧財務狀況和我們的最新指引。

Mike Rao (Chief Financial Officer)

邁克·拉奧（首席財務官）

Thank you Benji and good morning everyone. I will begin with a review of our first quarter financial results before covering our updated outlook for 2026. As a reminder, ALGC contributed approximately six weeks of results to the quarter given our mid February closing. In total the first quarter revenue was 168 million, an increase of 105% from the first quarter of 2025 reflecting organic growth of 64%. We delivered this growth despite a higher than normal number of cold weather days across our footprint during the quarter, which we manage through schedule flexibility and the ability to redeploy crews across our market as conditions allowed. As Jeremy mentioned, this growth was broad based with all regions and markets driving top line improvement year over year. Raleigh increased revenues over 40%, Charlotte and Greensboro continue to scale quickly and ALGC grew mid teens against a tougher weather comparison from the prior year. Gross profits for the quarter were 24.9 million or 14.9% compared to 9.9 million and 12.1% in the prior year. Gross margins increased 280 basis points as we realized scale benefits across higher volume and tightly manage operating cost. Adjusted gross profits were up 107% year over year at 34 million compared to 17 million in the prior year with adjusted gross margins expanding approximately 20 basis points year over year. The expansion was meaningful given Q1 seasonal headwind and the integration activity underway at ALGC. General non-recurring expenses for the quarter were 10 million or 6% of revenue. Approximately $3.5 million of the increase is non reoccurring tied to acquisition costs and one time jumps from public company readiness costs cost. On a continuing basis, G and A was 3.9% of revenue and we expect that ratio to continue to improve as we move throughout the year. Q1 is our highest G and A expense quarter on our lowest revenue quarter, so as we ramp up for the construction season and absorb the bulk of the annual public company costs including audit and reporting cycle expenses, we expect G and A expense as a percent of revenue to come down in the forward quarters. Adjusted EBITDA for The quarter was $27 million, up 84% year over year while Adjusted EBITDA margins finished at 16% down from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA margins were impacted by timing as winter weather impacted our ability to deploy higher margin work during the quarter and the growth initiatives taking place across our business. Cash flow from operating activities in the quarter were $9.3 million compared to 12.1 million in the prior year. This was driven by by increased working capital required for growth, specifically increased billings not yet collected. Capital expenditures were $9.3 million excluding acquisitions, reflecting the construction of our asphalt manufacturing facility and fleet and equipment investments. As we build density in Charlotte, Greensboro and Atlanta for the full year of 2026, we are still forecasting CapEx of $58 million unchanged from our prior guidance. Turning to the balance sheet, we ended the quarter at $196 million outstanding on our term loan and nothing drawn on our $75 million revolving credit facility. Net leverage at quarter end was approximately 1.2 times and well below our covenant of 2.5. The balance sheet remains in strong shape and gives us meaningful capacity to fund our operations, capital expenditures and M and A activities. Turning to our 2026 guidance, we are increasing revenue to a new range of $675 million to $685 million, up from our prior range of $665 million to $678 million. We are reiterating our Adjusted EBITDA margin guidance of 20% plus for the full year. The drivers for the increase are straightforward. Q1 came in ahead of expectations. Backlog of 854 million represents over 12 months of revenue at our current run rate. The bidding environment across our footprint remains robust. ALGC is contributing in a meaningful way and our vertical integration is allowing us to move faster than ever on more diverse project mix. Now that we are past the historically largest quarterly G and A impact of the year. As we progress through the construction season with our larger team, refreshed fleet and soon to be running asphalt plant, our Adjusted EBITDA margin profile will step up in hand and we are confident in our ability to hit our margin target of 20% plus. We are delivering on the strategy. We built this business around strong organic growth, expanding margins, a solid balance sheet and an acquisition pipeline that gives us multiple paths to compound from here. With that, let's open it up to questions. Operator, thank you so much.

謝謝你，Benji，大家早上好。我將首先回顧我們第一季度的財務業績，然後再討論我們對 2026 年的更新展望。提醒一下，由於我們在 2 月中旬完成收購，ALGC 為本季度貢獻了大約六週的業績。第一季度的總收入為 1.68 億美元，比 2025 年第一季度增長了 105%，反映出 64% 的有機增長。儘管本季度我們面臨了比正常情況更多的寒冷天氣天數，但我們通過靈活的調度和在條件允許的情況下重新部署團隊來管理這一挑戰。正如 Jeremy 提到的，這一增長是廣泛的，所有地區和市場都推動了同比的收入增長。羅利的收入增長超過 40%，夏洛特和格林斯伯勒繼續快速擴張，而 ALGC 在面對去年的更嚴峻天氣比較時也實現了中雙位數的增長。本季度的毛利潤為 2490 萬美元，毛利率為 14.9%，而去年為 990 萬美元，毛利率為 12.1%。毛利率提高了 280 個基點，因為我們在更高的交易量中實現了規模效益，並嚴格控制運營成本。調整後的毛利潤同比增長 107%，達到 3400 萬美元，而去年為 1700 萬美元，調整後的毛利率同比擴大了約 20 個基點。考慮到第一季度的季節性逆風以及 ALGC 正在進行的整合活動，這一擴張是相當重要的。本季度的一般性非經常性支出為 1000 萬美元，佔收入的 6%。大約 350 萬美元的增長是與收購成本和一次性公共公司準備成本相關的非經常性支出。持續來看，管理和行政費用佔收入的 3.9%，我們預計這一比例在全年將繼續改善。第一季度是我們管理和行政費用最高的季度，同時也是收入最低的季度，因此隨着我們為施工季節的準備和吸收年度公共公司成本（包括審計和報告週期費用），我們預計管理和行政費用佔收入的比例將在未來幾個季度下降。本季度的調整後 EBITDA 為 2700 萬美元，同比增長 84%，而調整後 EBITDA 毛利率為 16%，低於去年。調整後 EBITDA 毛利率受到時機的影響，因為冬季天氣影響了我們在本季度部署高毛利工作的能力，以及我們業務中正在進行的增長舉措。本季度的經營活動現金流為 930 萬美元，而去年為 1210 萬美元。這是由於增長所需的營運資金增加，特別是未收款項的賬單增加。資本支出為 930 萬美元，不包括收購，反映了我們瀝青製造設施的建設以及車隊和設備的投資。隨着我們在夏洛特、格林斯伯勒和亞特蘭大建立密度，我們仍然預測 2026 年的資本支出為 5800 萬美元，與之前的指導保持不變。關於資產負債表，我們在季度末的定期貸款餘額為 1.96 億美元，75 百萬美元的循環信貸額度沒有提款。季度末的淨槓桿約為 1.2 倍，遠低於我們的契約 2.5。資產負債表保持強勁，為我們提供了充足的資金來支持我們的運營、資本支出和併購活動。關於 2026 年的指導，我們將收入預期上調至 675 百萬至 685 百萬美元，之前的預期為 665 百萬至 678 百萬美元。我們重申全年調整後 EBITDA 毛利率指導為 20% 以上。增長的驅動因素很簡單。第一季度的業績超出預期。854 百萬的訂單積壓代表了我們當前運行速度下超過 12 個月的收入。我們所在地區的投標環境依然強勁。ALGC 的貢獻意義重大，我們的垂直整合使我們能夠在更為多樣化的項目組合上比以往更快地推進。現在我們已經度過了年度中管理和行政費用影響最大的季度。隨着我們在施工季節的推進，擁有更大的團隊、更新的車隊和即將投入運營的瀝青廠，我們的調整後 EBITDA 毛利率將會提升，我們對實現 20% 以上的毛利率目標充滿信心。我們正在落實這一戰略。我們圍繞強勁的有機增長、擴大的毛利率、穩健的資產負債表以及提供多條複合增長路徑的併購管道建立了這項業務。接下來，讓我們開始提問。操作員，謝謝你。

OPERATOR

操作員

And as a reminder to ask a question, simply press star11 and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw the question, please press star 11 again. One moment for our first question comes from the line of Louis De Palma with William Blair. Please proceed.

請記得提問，只需按星號 11 並等待您的名字被宣佈。要撤回問題，請再次按星號 11。請稍等，我們的第一個問題來自 William Blair 的 Louis De Palma。請繼續。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析師）

Jeremy, Benji, Mike and Emily, Good afternoon and congrats on the quarter.

Jeremy、Benji、Mike 和 Emily，下午好，恭喜你們取得了這個季度的成績。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事長兼首席執行官）

Hey Louis, thanks so much.

嘿，Louis，非常感謝。

Benji Wood (Chief Operating Officer)

Benji Wood（首席運營官）

Hey Louie.

嘿，Louie。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析師）

Hey. For Jeremy and Benji, how do Cardinal and ALGC as a team make each business stronger and are there early opportunities to cross sell services between the North Carolina and the ALGC Georgia markets?

嘿。對於 Jeremy 和 Benji，Cardinal 和 ALGC 作為一個團隊如何使各自的業務更強大？在北卡羅來納州和 ALGC 喬治亞州市場之間是否有早期的交叉銷售服務機會？

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事長兼首席執行官）

Hey Louie, this is Jeremy. I'll speak on behalf of Benji. He's actually on his way here to our office this morning and is running behind. But yes, the first thing we were able to do with the ALGC acquisition is identify some of the areas we could utilize each other's history, equipment, makeup and services. More importantly across exchange between the two locations. So for an instance ALGC was utilizing third parties for drilling and blasting of rock for certain paving services with subgrade cement stabilization services with subgrade as it relates to paving. And these are services that we provide across the Carolinas and are able to easily pick up and transport down to the Atlanta region and into some of the South Carolina regions that ALGC operates and start utilizing those services instantly. And also from the ALG side they possess some equipment that we do not possess in the Carolina specifically related to grading services. So we were able to utilize and see how we operate and integrate those services real time and put them straight to work. So we've seen almost day one. We were having some synergies as it relates to that.

嘿，Louie，我是 Jeremy。我將代表 Benji 發言。他實際上今早正在趕往我們辦公室，但有些遲到。不過，是的，我們在 ALGC 收購中能夠做的第一件事就是識別出一些我們可以利用彼此歷史、設備、構成和服務的領域。更重要的是在兩個地點之間的交流。例如，ALGC 在某些鋪路服務中利用第三方進行岩石的鑽探和爆破，以及與鋪路相關的基層水泥穩定服務。這些服務是我們在卡羅來納州提供的，並且能夠輕鬆地運送到亞特蘭大地區以及 ALGC 運營的一些南卡羅來納州地區，並立即開始利用這些服務。此外，ALG 方面擁有一些我們在卡羅來納州沒有的設備，特別是與平整服務相關的設備。因此，我們能夠實時利用並查看我們如何操作和整合這些服務，並立即投入使用。所以我們幾乎在第一天就看到了與此相關的一些協同效應。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析師）

Great. And my second question, the Raleigh and Atlanta markets, they seem to be your most mature markets. Has the growth in those markets remained in the double digits and do you expect to hit any type of ceiling in terms of market share gains or do you see like further Runway to expand either in the residential market and the industrial markets?

很好。我的第二個問題是，羅利和亞特蘭大市場似乎是你們最成熟的市場。這些市場的增長是否仍然保持在兩位數，並且你們是否預計在市場份額的增長方面會遇到任何瓶頸，還是你們認為在住宅市場和工業市場還有進一步擴展的空間？

Mike Rao (Chief Financial Officer)

Mike Rao（首席財務官）

Hey, Louie, Mike here. We are absolutely in total confidence that both Raleigh and Atlanta see opportunities for continued growth. We are not concerned about market share with our diversification with our end markets. We are also very happy with the bidding activity in both locations. It's very robust and we are confident in our ability to keep growing and at the rates we've been achieving and see that continuing forth going.

嘿，Louie，我是 Mike。我們絕對對羅利和亞特蘭大都有持續增長的機會充滿信心。我們對市場份額並不擔心，因為我們在最終市場的多樣化。我們對兩個地點的投標活動也非常滿意，活動非常活躍，我們對繼續以我們所取得的速度增長充滿信心，並認為這種增長將持續下去。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

Jeremy Spivey（董事長兼首席執行官）

Yeah. And I'll tag along to that, Louis. ALGC is a good for instance. So ALGC has got a significant amount of Runway for market share capture and growth with respect to density and integration of services. So we're just now starting to start to integrate all the services that they don't self perform, which was a number of them. And then as we're integrating those vertical services, we're also adding density to existing services that they already provided. So we're growing the utility division, we're growing the grading division, we're growing all these other services that they, that they had while we're stacking on the vertical services that they didn't self perform. So paving is a good for instance and that'll be a focus here in that market. And then you have to look at the diversification. ALGC was similar to our Raleigh office where they led with residential. They did have some exposure in some other end markets, primarily industrial manufacturing. But there's a whole other host of end markets that they haven't begun to diversify into. So similar to Raleigh, as we look to diversify to other end markets, we have a whole world of market share to go capture there. So we do not see, we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel with respect to how we can continue to grow our market share in these two specific markets. Great. And one final one before I jump back in the queue after the initial data center win, how should we think of your data center business? Are you bidding on other data center projects across North Carolina and Georgia? And should investors expect other wins across the next couple of years or are you going to focus on this one to start and we should wait to see how it does and then, you know, you perhaps will bid on others later. What's the status of your bidding activity? That's a great question, Louis. Our bidding activity is very active and I'll say with our expansion into the Atlanta market, the Georgia market, which has many more opportunities as it relates to mission-critical projects that suddenly expanded. And so we're putting an effort and a focus with business development on that end market. We have a lot of opportunities in front of us. We are focused on execution of the one that we have on our plate right now. And you know, it was. We spent a little bit time and I spent a lot of time on calls with weekly status updates, just making sure there's not something new that we're not used to seeing as it relates to the services that we provide. So we can get ahead of maybe any, anything that we're not used to seeing. But it sounds like that has gotten quickly on plan. And you know, there's a few nuances as it relates to that specific end market, the things that they, they look for with safety and some, some other things. But we're built for that. So we just deploy the, the additional resources that we have, we send it over there and everybody gets comfortable and move forward. So we feel really good about the project we have right now. It's going great. We're just getting started with the wet utility installation and as we said in our release, there's multiple phases there. So we're looking forward to continuing with that client on that project. And then likewise, we're utilizing that project, how we're executing and how we're providing for the customer and going out to other customers and other opportunities in other markets and saying, you know, we want to crack at it. We're actively bidding several, so we'll see where they go again, you know, the margins got to be there for us in any of these end markets that we go into. But you know, we're seeing, we're seeing a lot of activity. We feel really good about the opportunities in front of us.

是的，我會補充一下，Louis。ALGC 就是一個很好的例子。ALGC 在市場份額獲取和增長方面有相當大的空間，特別是在服務的密度和整合方面。因此，我們剛剛開始整合他們不自我執行的所有服務，其中有很多。然後在我們整合這些垂直服務的同時，我們也在增加他們已經提供的現有服務的密度。因此，我們正在擴大公用事業部門，擴大平整部門，擴大他們擁有的所有其他服務，同時疊加他們未自我執行的垂直服務。因此，鋪路就是一個很好的例子，這將是我們在該市場的一個重點。然後你必須考慮多樣化。ALGC 與我們的羅利辦公室類似，他們以住宅市場為主導。他們在一些其他最終市場上確實有一些曝光，主要是工業製造。但還有許多其他最終市場，他們尚未開始多樣化。因此，與羅利類似，當我們尋求多樣化到其他最終市場時，我們有一個巨大的市場份額可以去爭取。因此，我們看不到在這兩個特定市場中繼續增長市場份額的盡頭。很好。在我回到隊列之前還有一個最後的問題，在初始數據中心勝利之後，我們應該如何看待你們的數據中心業務？你們是否在北卡羅來納州和喬治亞州競標其他數據中心項目？投資者是否應該期待在未來幾年內獲得其他勝利，還是你們會專注於這個項目，看看它的表現，然後再考慮其他項目？你們的投標活動狀態如何？這是個好問題，Louis。我們的投標活動非常活躍，我會説隨着我們進入亞特蘭大市場，喬治亞州市場有更多與關鍵任務項目相關的機會，這突然擴展了。因此，我們在這個最終市場上投入了努力和關注進行業務開發。我們面前有很多機會。我們專注於執行我們目前手頭的項目。你知道，我們花了一些時間，我在每週的狀態更新電話上花了很多時間，確保沒有我們不習慣看到的新情況與我們提供的服務相關。因此，我們可以提前應對可能出現的任何情況。但聽起來這已經迅速按計劃進行。你知道，關於這個特定最終市場，有一些細微差別，他們在安全和其他一些方面的要求。但我們為此做好了準備。因此，我們只是部署我們擁有的額外資源，把它送過去，讓每個人都感到舒適並繼續前進。因此，我們對目前的項目感到非常滿意。進展順利。我們剛剛開始進行濕公用設施的安裝，正如我們在發佈中所説的，還有多個階段。因此，我們期待與該客户在該項目上繼續合作。同樣，我們也在利用這個項目，看看我們如何執行以及如何為客户提供服務，並向其他客户和其他市場的機會表示，我們希望參與其中。我們正在積極競標幾個項目，因此我們將看看它們的進展。你知道，任何進入這些最終市場的項目，利潤必須對我們有利。但你知道，我們看到很多活動。我們對面前的機會感到非常樂觀。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

Louis De Palma（股票分析師）

Great. And just to confirm, so the margins are that you're seeing are pretty favorable relative to your existing residential and industrial businesses?

很好。只是想確認一下，你們看到的利潤相對於你們現有的住宅和工業業務是相當有利的，對嗎？

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

傑里米·斯派維 (董事長兼首席執行官)

Yep. And I'll say I've said this on the road, you know, on the road show and anytime I meet, it has to be at or better than what we're used to getting on the residential side for us to consider any end market. And so I will say that the margins are at or better than what we're getting with our current customer base on the residential side.

是的。我會説我在路演上和每次見面時都提到過，任何最終市場的考慮必須達到或超過我們在住宅領域所習慣的水平。因此，我會説，利潤率達到了或超過了我們在住宅領域當前客户羣體所獲得的水平。

Louis De Palma (Equity Analyst)

路易斯·德·帕爾馬 (股票分析師)

Great. I will hop back in the queue. Thanks. Everyone.

很好。我會重新排隊。謝謝大家。

OPERATOR

操作員

Thank you. Lou. Thank you so much. Our next question comes from Brian Brophy with Stifel. Please proceed.

謝謝你，Lou。非常感謝。我們的下一個問題來自 Stifel 的布萊恩·布羅菲。請繼續。

Andrew Mazeron

安德魯·馬澤龍

Hey guys, this is Andrew Mazeron for Brian. Thank you for taking the question. I just wanted to ask about your updated revenue guidance. Up 50%. How should we think about that split between acquisition, contribution and then the cadence of organic growth through the year and then within that, how are you thinking about growth across your end markets, resi, commercial and DOT work?

大家好，我是安德魯·馬澤龍，代表布萊恩提問。感謝你們接受我的問題。我想問一下你們更新的收入指引。增長 50%。我們應該如何看待收購貢獻和全年有機增長的節奏之間的分配？在這方面，你們如何看待住宅、商業和 DOT 工作的增長？

Mike Rao (Chief Financial Officer)

邁克·拉奧 (首席財務官)

In terms of guidance, we see absolutely favorable bidding activity right now. Our backlog is very strong. We are, we did increase it. We see the second quarter being stronger than the first quarter, somewhere in the teens for growth off of the first quarter. So we're still early into the year but our guidance is favorable for revenue and with it. The adjusted EBITDA margin we talked about is still looking good too as well. Organic growth is still coming on very strong. Again we mentioned the activity going on in the bidding and it's robust. Our backlog still strong. We mentioned 30% growth in the backlog organically. So right now we're very confident in our ability to deliver the growth that we have for the year.

就指引而言，我們目前看到的投標活動非常有利。我們的訂單積壓非常強勁。我們確實增加了訂單積壓。我們預計第二季度的增長將強於第一季度，增長幅度在十幾個百分點。因此，我們仍處於年初，但我們的收入指引是樂觀的，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率也看起來不錯。有機增長仍然非常強勁。我們提到的投標活動非常活躍，訂單積壓依然強勁。我們提到的訂單積壓有機增長達到了 30%。所以現在我們對實現今年的增長非常有信心。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

傑里米·斯派維 (董事長兼首席執行官)

And I'll also say that the organic growth opportunity again with Charlotte, with Greensboro, with with Atlanta as we look to build density and start to integrate the vertical services that aren't already self performed in those markets that'll drive a lot of the organic growth across the platform.

我還想説，有機增長的機會再次出現在夏洛特、格林斯伯勒和亞特蘭大，我們希望在這些市場中建立密度，並開始整合尚未自我執行的垂直服務，這將推動平台的有機增長。

Andrew Mazeron

安德魯·馬澤龍

And I forget your other question. Sorry. My other question within that was how you're thinking about growth across resi, commercial and DOT type work. But I think you sort of touched on it.

我忘記了你的另一個問題。抱歉。我的另一個問題是你們如何看待住宅、商業和 DOT 類型工作的增長。但我想你已經提到過了。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

傑里米·斯派維 (董事長兼首席執行官)

Good. So yeah, I guess my second one is on the asphalt plant. Wondering if you could provide an update on that. I think it was supposed to be or has already commissioned in the second quarter here. It's. Yeah, I'll give you a quick update on. I actually got some very cool photos right before this call or videos. We are, we're on, we're on first and goal with, with the startup of that of that plant. It's almost fully constructed. There were. There's a couple of services with electrical and gas with some permitting things that got delayed but they're still on track to be a Q2 start. I mean the plant's almost fully constructed. As I said, we're in the process of taking the recycled asphalt that we had stockpiled and processing that and getting it ready for use. We actually have a very large resurfacing project that sits right adjacent to our plant that we won in Q1 that'll go directly into, you know, in the queue for this plant. So it's still on track. It'll be open Q2 and it should be any day. So I would hope to provide an update to the market as soon as we hit the on switch.

很好。所以我想我的第二個問題是關於瀝青廠的。想知道你能否提供一下最新情況。我認為它應該在第二季度投入使用。是的，我會給你一個快速更新。實際上在這個電話之前我收到了幾張非常酷的照片或視頻。我們正在進行該工廠的啓動，幾乎已經完全建成。還有一些電氣和天然氣的服務以及一些許可問題導致延遲，但仍然按計劃在第二季度啓動。我的意思是，工廠幾乎已經完全建成。正如我所説，我們正在處理我們之前儲存的再生瀝青，並準備好使用。實際上，我們有一個非常大的重鋪項目就在我們工廠旁邊，我們在第一季度贏得了這個項目，它將直接進入這個工廠的排隊中。所以它仍然按計劃進行，預計在第二季度開放，應該很快就會啓動。因此，我希望在我們打開開關後儘快向市場提供更新。

Andrew Mazeron

安德魯·馬澤龍

Perfect. Thank you.

完美。謝謝。

OPERATOR

操作員

Thank you so much. And I am not showing any further questions in the queue. I will turn it back to Jeremy Spivey for closing remarks.

非常感謝。我沒有看到隊列中有進一步的問題。我將把時間交還給傑里米·斯派維進行結束語。

Jeremy Spivey (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer)

傑里米·斯派維 (董事長兼首席執行官)

Thank you, operator. And thank you all for joining us this morning. I want to thank the Cardinal team for delivering an exceptional first quarter. Their execution, their commitment to safety and the pride they bring to their work are what makes this business what it is. We are off to a very strong start in 2026. The platform we have built is performing. Our acquisition framework continues to deliver and the Runway in front of us is very significant. We look forward to meeting many of you on the road this quarter. Thank you and have a great day.

謝謝你，操作員。感謝大家今天早上加入我們。我想感謝 Cardinal 團隊在第一季度的出色表現。他們的執行力、對安全的承諾以及他們對工作的自豪感是這項業務的核心。我們在 2026 年有一個非常強勁的開局。我們所建立的平台正在發揮作用。我們的收購框架繼續帶來成果，前方的機會非常顯著。我們期待在本季度與許多人見面。謝謝，祝大家有美好的一天。

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Cardinal Infrastructure 2026 年第一季度收益電話會議記錄